4H

If you read this post and this post, then you know that the boys have been raising feeder calves for 4H.  Well, today was the big day for these 2.  4H small Market show day.  Aren't they the cutest little farmers you ever did see?

Today was the day all of the time spent with their calves practicing was put on display for all to see!  Here are a few pictures of them with their calves over the last few months as they cared for them and learned all of the many things they needed to know for raising and showing their calves.

We learned about all sorts of things like, banding, dehorning, marketing, showmanship, clipping, trimming and yes, I say we because I was at like 98 percent of their meetings(because Ryan was working,no choice,) I too got quite the education!

At one of the clinics they had a bunch of calves for the kids to practice showing and the girls and Easton had a cow to 'hang on to' as well! I am sure there is much more of this is in our future!

Jayden and Spencer practicing 'setting up' their calves using their show sticks(who knew there was such a thing!)....

 Bath time!(once again, who knew? Oh I could go on and tell you about the blow drying, hair spraying, hair dying that goes on with these show cows, but this is getting long as it is, so I'll just stick to our cows...)

I love this picture because it shows the sweet smile on Jayden's face as he looks at Socks.  This kid LOVES his cows!  So much so, that he wants to be a beef farmer when he grows up, or actually now.  He asked for more cows for his birthday!

These boys have worked so hard between shoveling and hauling manure, stacking hay and straw,  to feeding and walking their cows and all without complaint.  This 4H project has been such a great experience for them.  (sometimes a pain for us with the meetings and expenses that we have yet to recoup...but totally worth it!)

I am not a huge fair fan, in fact I think I was at the fair once since we moved here. But, this week, we have made up for that, we have been at the fair every. single. day. and then some....

 There they are Socks and T-Bone.  They are tiny yet, they didn't make weight so we can not sell them at the auction as we had hoped, but we kinda figured that would happen, we had a late start due to some misinformation, but no biggie, they could potentially sell them in the barn on Saturday, however, neither of the boys want to sell them!

Jayden took 3rd place for showmanship in his division!  We were pretty happy with that for his first time ever.  Way to go Jayden!

 Spencer took 6th place out of 10 I believe, which was very good and we were so happy for that as well!  Great job Spencer!

They also both got A's on their project notebooks which detailed all of the costs and feed types and amounts, photos, marketing info, etc...lots of work!  So proud of you boys!!

Take a kid fishing day...

Dylan and Jayden participated in the "Take a kid fishing day" this year.  It was a great opportunity for them to get out on the big lake.  Of course they get to go fishing with Ryan regularly, but unfortunately, our boat is too small for salmon fishing.

Ryan helped pack up the fish...

Jayden got on a boat with a friend from church that we didn't even know was going to be there!  They caught 3 nice ones, and had a great time together!

The people who take the kids fishing volunteer their boat, gas and time for the day!  They had a hot dog lunch and each kid got a trophy, t-shirt, and a gift bag with lures and bobbers!

Dylan's boat caught 11 fish!  He didn't know the other kid on his boat, but had a great time with him and their crew.

Each kid came home with 2 big bags of fish!  If your kid ever has the chance to participate in an activity like this I highly recommend it!

summer....

Why must it go so fast?  I can not believe it is the middle of August, and school is just around the corner...in fact, it's starting to intrude on my summer! Dylan has been reviewing Spanish and Algebra for a big test which he took today, soccer has begun, high school registration{YIKES!}, orientation etc...  We have been unusually busy the last few weeks.  But we have had a ton of fun things going on as well.  I am going to try to catch up my blog for the next little bit on a few of our adventures. 

After we spent a week camping, we were home for a week and then we headed back up north to Lake Ann Camp.  Ryan was invited to speak at Fresh Start camp for the week, and the rest of the family was invited to come stay at the camp while he was there.  I must admit, I was looking forward to this all summer.  A real vacation for me, no cooking or cleaning!  Jayden and Spencer went to junior camp that week and the rest of us hung out at our cabin.  Dylan and I taught Easton how to play Dutch Blitz, the best card game ever!  He even beat us a couple of times. 

 We were in a cabin on one side of the camp and Ryan was speaking on the opposite side of camp, one night when we went to go hear him speak we walked the nearly 20 minutes to where he was and it started to thunder!  So, I headed back to our cabin with Easton and the girls.  Ryan and Dylan stayed while he taught in the pavilion, but they had to run back in the rain!  They could not have been any wetter!  Fun memories.

 The kids played lots of games including air hockey, and at one point I had 2 of them in tears because the puck hit their fingers!  I had warned them from my past experiences to keep their hands back...guess they had to learn that lesson the hard way!

 Doing some sprinting in our own family Olympics!

 We went to the beach in Traverse City one day.

 It was fun to see the boys from time to time doing their activities.

 The kids loved carpet ball...

 and the slushies every day were a huge hit!

It was a great week for all of us, I was blessed to meet a wonderful family who is in the adoption process and we talked adoption several times, which is always fun. It was great to spend time doing fun things with the kids with no other responsibilities.  God was at work and many kids lives were impacted in one way or another through all of the various speakers, including Ryan, which is always exciting to see.  Our boys had lots of stories to share and wonderful memories were made.  I went to Lake Ann when I was in high school, and have gone for several womens and couples retreats.  It is a beautiful place and we were blessed indeed to spend time there this summer.